''Quyi'' ("melodious art") and ''shuochang yishu'' ("speaking and singing art") are umbrella terms for over 300 regional genres of traditional Chinese oral performing arts. ''Quyi'' is distinguished from ''xiqu'' (

Chinese opera Traditional Chinese opera (), or ''Xiqu'', is a form of musical theatre in China with roots going back to the early periods in China. It is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient China, and evolved gradually over more tha ...

) by its emphasis on narration, as opposed to acting, although they share many elements including the same traditional stories. ''Quyi'' artists generally wear no to little makeup. Musical instruments like drums, wooden clappers, ''

pipa The pipa, pípá, or p'i-p'a () is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets rang ...

'', ''

yangqin The trapezoidal yangqin () is a Chinese hammered dulcimer, likely derived from the Iranian santur or the European dulcimer. It used to be written with the characters 洋琴 (lit. "foreign zither"), but over time the first character changed t ...

'', or ''

sanxian The (, literally "three strings") is a three-stringed traditional Chinese lute. It has a long fretless fingerboard, and the body is traditionally made from snake skin stretched over a rounded rectangular resonator. It is made in several sizes ...

'' are commonly seen in ''quyi'', as are

hand fan A handheld fan, or simply hand fan, is any broad, flat surface that is waved back-and-forth to create an airflow. Generally, purpose-made handheld fans are folding fans, which are shaped like a sector of a circle and made of a thin material (suc ...

History

While the storytelling art concept has been around for centuries, the narrative art concept was mostly recognized in the 1920s. Only after 1949 with the founding of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

did the term ''quyi'' become widely used. Prior to this, it was just classified as ''shuochang yishu''. This is one of the art category that gained momentum since the

New Culture Movement The New Culture Movement () was a movement in China in the 1910s and 1920s that criticized classical Chinese ideas and promoted a new Chinese culture based upon progressive, modern and western ideals like democracy and science. Arising out of ...

. With the exception of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

period, a great number of stories written for this art are preserved.

Presentation

The story is usually told by a small number of people. The most standard number is 1 or 2, sometimes extending to 4 or higher. ''Quyi'' is often accompanied by clappers, drums, or stringed

instruments Instrument may refer to: Science and technology * Flight instruments, the devices used to measure the speed, altitude, and pertinent flight angles of various kinds of aircraft * Laboratory equipment, the measuring tools used in a scientific lab ...

, with the presenter wearing costumes at times. Unlike Chinese operas which has a fixed style for costume, ''quyi'' costumes vary depending on the era of the story plot. Costumes range from dynastic period ''

hanfu ''Hanfu'' () is the traditional styles of clothing worn by the Han Chinese. There are several representative styles of ''hanfu'', such as the (an upper-body garment with a long outer skirt), the (an upper-body garment with a long underskirt ...

'' to the more modern ''

qipao ''Cheongsam'' (, ), also known as the ''qipao'' () and sometimes referred to as the mandarin gown, is a Chinese dress worn by women which takes inspiration from the , the ethnic clothing of the Manchu people. The cheongsam is most often see ...

'' or even suits. The language used is usually associated with the spoken dialect of the local area. Sometimes it uses rhymed verse, some in prose, and some combine both. A lot of body movements may be used in the portrayal of the characters in the story. Each person may play multiple roles for multiple characters in the story. It is also this local and regional feel for the art that some would classify it as

Chinese folk art Chinese folk art are artistic forms inherited from a regional or ethnic scene in China. Usually there are some variation between provinces. Individual folk arts have a long history, and many traditions are still practiced today. The general def ...

Regions

Outside of

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

, this entertainment form is also found in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Varieties

* Baiju () -

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

Dagu Dagu may refer to: * Nyala language (Sudan), also known as Dagu, an Eastern Sudanic language of Darfur * Daju people China *Dagu Subdistrict (大沽街道), a subdistrict in Binhai, Tianjin **Taku Forts, also known as Dagu Forts, historical coast ...

() **Jingdong dagu ()

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

**Jingyun dagu () **

Xihe Dagu Xihe is the Chinese tones, atonal pinyin romanization of Chinese, romanization of the Standard Mandarin, Mandarin pronunciation of various Chinese language, Chinese names. It may refer to: People *Xihe (deity) (), a Chinese solar deity Places *X ...

() *Danxian ()Beijing zh *

Kuaiban ''Kuaibanshu'' () is a form of oral storytelling performance that is popular in northern China. It is a type of '' shuochang'', somewhat similar to Vietnamese vè or rapping. Background Kuaiban literally means ''fast boards''. It is also known ...

() *

Pinghua Pinghua (; Yale romanization of Cantonese, Yale: ''Pìhng Wá''; sometimes disambiguated as /) is a pair of Sinitic languages spoken mainly in parts of the Guangxi, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, with some speakers in Hunan province. Pinghua ...

() *

Pingshu ''Pingshu'' () or ''pinghua'' () refers to the traditional Han Chinese performing art of storytelling with no musical accompaniment. It is better known as ''pingshu'' in northern China and ''pinghua'' in southern China. Performing art Pingsh ...

() * Pingtan () * Shuoshu () *

Tanci Tanci is a narrative form of song in China that alternates between verse and prose.Wang, Lingzhen, p53 The literal name "plucking rhymes" refers to the singing of verse portions to a '' pipa''.Hu, Siao-chen, p539 A ''tanci'' is usually seven word ...

() *

Xiangsheng Xiangsheng (), also known as crosstalk or comic dialogue, is a traditional performing art in Chinese comedy, and one of the most popular elements in Chinese culture. It is typically performed as a dialogue between two performers, or rarely as ...

() * Xiangshu () *Yangzhou pinghua ()

Yangzhou Yangzhou, postal romanization Yangchow, is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province (Suzhong), East China. Sitting on the north bank of the Yangtze, it borders the provincial capital Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yan ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

* Zhuizi

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

File:Pingtan Music at the Lingering Garden.ogg, Suzhou Pingtan sample

References

{{Chinese opera Performing arts in China Chinese storytelling Chinese styles of music